Aircraft movements in Europe increased by 11.8% in 2023 compared to 2022, but are still -8.1% below their pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
The report on European airport traffic for the full year 2023, the fourth quarter and December 2023 published by ACI Europe reveals a dynamic aviation market, reshaped by a mix of structural changes, resilience as to demand severe geopolitical tensions.
Passenger traffic across the European airport network in 2023 increased by 19% in the previous year, bringing the total amount to just -5.4% below pre-pandemic levels (2019).
The increase was largely driven by international passenger traffic (+21%), which grew at almost twice the rate of domestic passenger traffic (+11.7%), with airports in the EU+1 market (+19%) fertiling those in the rest of Europe (+16%).
Airports that traditionally rely on leisure traffic, such as Athens International Airport (and with a notable presence of low-cost carriers) surpassed their pre-pandemic (2019) levels, leading AIA to show a 10.1% increase, above major airports such as Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen (+4.6%) and Paris-Orly (+1.4%).
Multi-speed recovery and the large deviations
Beyond these key results, 2023 was characterised by unprecedented variations in traffic performance in both national and individual airport markets compared to pre-pandemic (2019) levels:
- Within the EU+ markets, airports in Portugal (+12.2%), Greece (+12.1%), Iceland (+6.9%), Malta (+6.7%) and Poland (+4.5%) performed better – while in Finland (-29.6%), Slovenia (-26.2%), Germany (-22.4%) and Sweden (-21%) remained far behind full recovery. Among the largest EU+ markets, airports in Spain (+3%) were the only ones to fully recover, followed by those in Italy (-2%), France (-5.4%), the UK (-6.4%) – and airports in Germany by a wide margin.
- In the rest of Europe, airports in the emerging markets of Uzbekistan (+110%), Armenia (+66%) and Kazakhstan (+51%) experienced exponential growth partly due to traffic diversions to/from Russia, along with those in Albania (+117%) and Kosovo (+44%) support Ultra Low Cost airlines that are rapidly growing their capacity. Meanwhile, airports in the large market of Turkey (+2.5%) have just surpassed their pre-pandemic levels.
Slower recovery at hubs and larger airports
Passenger traffic at the “Majors” (the top 5 European airports) grew by 20.8% in 2023 compared to the previous year – resulting in these airports adding an impressive 58 million passengers. Despite this significant growth, the “Μajors” still remained -6.5% below their pre-pandemic (2019) levels – mainly due to the relative weakness of the Asian market, the slow return of corporate travel and their tight capacity control.
In 2023 there were changes in the composition and ranking of the top 5 “champions”:
- London-Heathrow was reinstated as Europe’s busiest airport in 2023 – a position held by Istanbul the previous year. The UK hub welcomed 79.2 million passengers – a remarkable 28.5% increase on 2022, which allowed it to come very close to its pre-pandemic (2019) levels (-2.1%). Its reliance on transatlantic traffic played a key role in this performance.
- Istanbul came second, reaching 76 million passengers – an increase of 18.3% compared to 2022. The Turkish hub performed the best among the top 5 leagues when compared to its pre-pandemic (2019) volumes, which it largely surpassed (+11% ). In 2019, Istanbul was the fifth busiest European airport.
- Paris-CDG continued to maintain third place with 67.4 million passengers (+17.3% vs. 2022) and remained -11.5% below its pre-pandemic (2019 level). The French hub was followed by Amsterdam-Schiphol (61.9 million passengers, +17.9% vs. 2022 and -13.7% vs. 2019).
- Madrid closed the top five (60.2 million passengers and +18.9% compared to 2022), very close to the pre-pandemic (2019) level (-2.5%). The Iberian hub’s exposure to transatlantic movement, as well as its comparatively higher share of leisure traffic, allowed it to surpass Frankfurt again in 2023 (59.4 million passengers , +21.3% vs. 2022 and -15.9% compared to 2019).
The 2023 passenger yield at other major European airports also reflects structural changes in the market compared to pre-pandemic (2019) levels:
- Those traditionally based on leisure traffic and with a notable presence of low-cost airlines often exceeded their pre-pandemic (2019) volumes: Athens (+10.1%), Lisbon (+7.9%), Palma de Mallorca (+4.7%), Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen (+4.6%), Dublin (+1.8%) and Paris-Orly (+1.4%).
- While Rome-Fiumicino (-7%) was still below its pre-pandemic level, the Italian hub saw passenger traffic grow by +38% year-on-year – the best performance among Europe’s largest airports.
- Malaga with more than 22.3 million passengers (+12.6%) handled more passengers than Brussels (-15.8%) and Stockholm-Arlanda (-15%).
Smaller and regional airports perform better
In contrast to hubs and larger airports, smaller and regional airports completed their recovery in 2023 – with passenger traffic up +17.6% year-on-year, putting them at +3% above their pre-pandemic (2019) levels.
This performance is largely driven by EU airports serving tourist destinations and/or attracting capacity from ultra-low-cost carriers, as well as airports in less mature markets in the rest of Europe.
Some of these airports have experienced exponential growth well above their pre-pandemic (2019) levels – including: Trapani (+223%), Perugia (+143%), Tirana (+117%), Samarkand (+110%), Lodz ( +97%), Kutaisi (+91%), Zadar (+88%), Yerevan (+66%), Memmingen (+64%), Almaty (+51%), Funchal (+43%), Zaragoza (+47%), Pristina (+44%) and Oviedo-Asturias (+40%).
During 2023, airports serving more than 25 million passengers per year (Group 1), airports serving between 10 and 25 million passengers (Group 2), airports serving between 5 and 10 million passengers per year (Group 2), airports serving between 5 and 10 million passengers per year (Group 3), airports serving between 5 and 10 million passengers per year (Group 4) and airports serving between 5 and 10 million passengers per year (Group 5). passengers (Group 3), airports receiving between 1 and 5 million passengers per year (Group 4) and airports receiving between 100,000 and 1 million passengers (Group 5) reported an average change of -7.6%, -10.2%, +4.3%, +2.0%, -0.8% respectively, compared to pre-pandemic traffic levels (2019).
The airports that reported the best performance in terms of passenger traffic for 2023 (compared to 2019) are:
- Group 1: Istanbul (+11.0%), Athens ATH (+10.1%), Lisbon LIS (+7.9%), Palma de Mallorca PMI (+4.7%), Istanbul SAW (+4.6%).
- Group 2: Porto OPO (+16.0%), Naples NAP (+14.1%), Malaga AGP (+12.6%), Tenerife TFS (+10.5%), Marseille MRS (+6.4%).
- Group 3: Sochi AER (+105.7%), Almaty ALA (+51.2%), Belgrade BEG (+29.0%), Valencia VLC (+16.6%), Palermo PMO (+15.5%).
- Group 4: Tirana TIA (+117.4%), Yerevan EVN (+65.6%), Memmingen FMM (+64.2%), Pristina PRN (+44.3%), Funchal FNC (+43.1%).
- Group 5: Trapani TPS (+223.4%), Perugia PEG (+142.9%), Samarkand SKD (+109.8%), Kutaisi KUT (+91.1%), Zadar ZAD (+88.3%)
